Why was it a death sentence, you ask?

How could a precious black cat mewling be the worst thing that Hannah encountered in a while? Shouldn’t you have an animal sidekick while you were experiencing an apocalypse? A beautiful bond formed between man and animal that would stand the test of time?

She had to admit that this creature was adorable and a sight for sore eyes!

Hannah offhandedly hoped she wasn’t getting sore eyes—you kinda needed medication for that. But back to the little devil in front of her. This kitten’s beautiful green eyes reminded her of that adorable puss who wore boots.

That wasn’t the problem.

This one was actually less flashy than that cinematic cat legend and instead was more like a magnet for impending doom. The feline was no fast and furious killer. It did not have a death ray in its eyes or spat out acid… but its ungodly wail?

“Oh, shut up, please.” Hannah hissed at it with little avail. She would have tossed it a can of sardines if it would have understood the bargain, but there was no way that she was opening up a can of perfectly good food and sharing it with someone else.

Her tone only made it meow even louder as a look of betrayal flashed across its face.

Or Hannah was just personifying it too much. Either way, the little kitty’s piercing cry was so loud that Hannah knew she was literally toast. It was like the small kitten’s lungs were ten times bigger than its supposed size and could have beaten an elephant with how immensely quiet the entire avenue was.

Hannah’s gaze darted behind her and she did not immediately hear the horrendous sounds of a zombie horde coming back, but her gaze then flickered up wildly across the building’s rooftops for any signs of approaching visitors.

Predators.

She bit her lip so hard that it nearly bled and glared at the little kitten that kept crying and seemed to have been still begging her for food. Hannah would have whacked a rat to death, but this little cat could cry all it wanted as long as Hannah was fifty miles away from it.

“Shoo! Scram!” Hannah felt tempted to kick it away to shut up the feline, but that was definitely a no-no. People who kicked the dog, or a cat in this scenario, would have probably ended up getting their faces chewed out by a monster.

Not that she believed in tropes or anything, but that was basically karma at this point.

A shudder instinctively went down Hannah’s spine.

Whether it was her imagination or something else entirely, she thought she heard something large and heavy dart and skitter across the rooftops. Having no more time to waste, Hannah immediately scampered out of the alleyway and into the open street.

The dumpster was in no place for any courageous meeting and standing down with feral monsters. She didn’t want to face her death there at all. If she was going to die…

Well, she wasn’t really prepared, so she dropped that idea for now.

Once she left, Hannah immediately met with the rancid smell in the air of a society left to rot without proper waste disposal, literal cars and other vehicles tossed over into the cracked pavement as if they were nothing more but toys and the general lack of semblance of any functioning system or order.

And if she squinted her eyes?

She could see the likes of that zombie pack shambling down the road and groaning in the symphony of death’s orchestra. There were stray and lone zombies lurking about, but Hannah could outrun them.

All it mattered was that she had escaped from that beacon of demons.

Or so she thought.

The momentary lapse in judgement, or perhaps the kitten had every intention of scourging her for food, gave it the opportunity to rush out of the dumpster and happily follow her out here. This black cat seemed really intent on making her suffer.

“Oh god no, I don’t want you.” Hannah threatened it with a bat and waved it around for the little bundle to see, but that only seemed to amuse it.

Drats.

She should have known by now that animals also experienced weird mutations and this one seemed to be a speedster, but she really wasn’t feeling up to taking care of a—the thoughts washed away completely at the sight of the creature skulking behind the kitten.

How did she not hear it land on the street?

Hannah felt her skin fill out with goosebumps at its appearance. Large and could be quiet? It was a huge bulking figure that looked like it should have come out from a mad scientist’s monster pod. Pure rippled muscle evident everywhere as it stood on its hind legs like a skinless rabid mutt and also had the extra horror of being paler than her bones.

There were two eyes somewhere at the top, and extra ones along its side, like a freaky experiment between a dog, an oversized gym person and maybe a spider for all those extra eyes.

Hannah didn’t know why though, but its eyes were solely on the black kitten and didn’t seem to pay any heed to her, as if the cat was the much preferable snack.

Survival instincts told her to get the hell out of here as fast as she could and abandon the special kitty to its own demise. She didn’t know if the cat was dumb, but it was now only looking at her as it licked one of its paws and rubbed itself clean.

It really looked unbothered by the monster that was moments away from devouring it whole.

Hannah hadn’t survived long enough on mere altruism.

However, against her very good judgement and instincts, or perhaps it was actually the opposite because she came to a belief that the cat actually knew what it was doing, she dove her hand deep into her pocket and snatched out the protein bar.

She immediately tossed it against the monster, watched it hit it against one of its eyes and then pathetically dropped into the street in a single fluid motion.

Did the monster register it—oh yes, it did. She felt the air ringing in her ears and only saw a flash come at her. Hannah immediately flung herself to the left and dropped flat on the concrete, experienced the ebb of pain, and kissed the surface before making it back to her feet.

She immediately heard the distinctive sound of the tricked predator crashing against a solid building and the distinctive sound of building blocks toppling against one another, to her relief. Not that it would stop the creature.

Perhaps it would delay and knock it down a little, but she needed to escape.

And for ideas, she threw a look at the kitten.

Or where it was supposed to be and yet she had found it gone.

“Hah! I knew it was special!” Hannah laughed, then choked on thin air because now wasn’t really a good time and haphazardly glanced around until she saw that the kitty had returned to the dumpster.

The feline perched languidly against the large metal tin can of filth and trash.

Hannah’s mouth hung open, but she found herself at a loss for words. Why was it going back there? Shouldn’t it have led her somewhere else into a place of safety or attacked the predator?! That would not work out for the two of them! The cat could hide in the dumpster but Hannah would… no, it was too late for that.

She should have known that it was no miracle worker, and yet she had mistakenly hoped for something to happen. In a world where monsters she had never once dreamed of coming to life, creatures of the night co-existing and yet the cat she met was nothing more but just a helpful in delaying her death.

“Fuck.” she cursed for real.

Hannah clutched the bat in her hand tighter and glanced around wildly for an apartment with a glass window to which she could probably break and then barricade herself in. The chances of it working were actually not that bad.

The predator she encountered didn’t seem to be top tier elite types yet so there was still a chance of surviving. Before she made her impromptu getaway, a flash of illumination suddenly burst out from the dark alleyway.

Out of nowhere, a sliver of light seeped out from a dark and heavy metal door, one of those back doors that incidentally often opened up to dump alleys—something Hannah was sure didn’t exist there before, not that she was going to file a letter of complaint.

“Ah, so there you are, Casper. Sly bastard.” A voice marveled and chuckled in a deep tone. “Evelynn had been looking everywhere for you. Come in now.”

Not exactly what Hannah had been expecting, but she was taking her chances.